Review: Cubao #6

I noticed an early buzz about Cubao on the cigarlive.com website and I had to get my hands on them to see if the smoke matched the buzz. For those who do not know Cubao Cigars are made by EO Bands which is behind the 601 line of cigar. , These cigars come from Don Pepin Garcia’s Nicaraguan factory.

I actually smoked this cigar yesterday afternoon, but did not get to write my review til this morning. It was my second Cubao in 2 days. The first was at the outside tiki bar at the Elks. When I review a cigar I keep notes and translate them into the reviews you read. So continuing my repetitive nature I drove over to the beach and got ready to smoke!

Pre-Smoke: I was really attracted to this candy colored wrapper that reminded me of a Sugar Daddy in color. The roll while not sloppy, it was not seamless which gave the cigar character and definition. There were almost no veins to speak off and this cigar was begging to be smoked. The scent off the wrapper was a well defined chocolate while at the foot there were notes of caramel and some faint molasses. After giving the cigar a straight cut with my idiot proof hippotech cutter the pre-light draw was of caramel. Touching the cut end to my tongue I was hit with some serious hot pepper… So far so good..

Smoke: After lighting this smoke I was hit with what I will call the trademark of Pepin Garcia. That quick hit of in your face pepper that it seems like all his cigars start off with. This does not make it a bad thing, as the pepper always seems to subside and this was no different with the Cubao. As I closed out the 1st third of the cigar I was treated to notes of caramel with an underlying sweetness.

As the second third began I noticed my burn line was a bit jagged, but nothing to be concerned about. The ash was a very light gray and flaky so to prevent myself from wearing my ash I tapped the cigar and dove into the second third which the notes of caramel continued but were joined by some chocolate and coffee.

I reached my final third about 50 minutes into the smoke and the cigar maintained notes of coffee and some bitter chocolate. I smoked the cigar to the nub and the total smoke time was about 70 minutes.

Overall: I was very apprehensive to try this cigar as I had one 601 and did not like it. I was temped to go back and get another 601 at my local B&M where it was discovered the boxes they had were infested with the Lasioderma serricorne otherwise known as the tobacco beetle and the boxes were discarded. But I broke down and am glad I gave this wonderful cigar a try.